Billy Corgan's 10 greatest heavy metal albums of all time

27th Apr 2010 | 11:26

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The Stooges - Funhouse (1969)

Although often tagged as the poster boy for '90s alt-rock, Billy Corgan's trailblazing work with The Smashing Pumpkins is informed by many musical sources: psychedelia, progressive rock, punk and, most importantly, heavy metal.

His chainsaw guitar sound on I Am One, from 1991's Gish, bears this out. It's a slamming, Sabbath-like slab of unadulterated metal, with a bracing solo that undoubtedly left more than a fair share of GIT shredders agape.

Need more proof? Check out the lacerating Tales Of A Scorched Earth from 1995's Mellon Collie And The Infinite Sadness. Shoe-gazer rock? Uh...don't think so. Hide small children and animals before blasting this volcanic opus.

On the following pages, Billy Corgan runs down his favourite heavy metal albums of all time, those records that rocked his world and helped shape his playing into a fascinating (and very heavy!) amalgam. He kicks things off, oddly enough, with The Stooges:

Led Zeppelin - Physical Graffiti (1975)

"It’s hard to call Zep 'metal' but they did create different blueprints that are still being used in Riffland. I love this record because it is so damn dark. In My Time of Dying is as heavy as anything released.

"Maybe not 'heavy' heavy, but emotionally... total oblivion."

Accept - Restless And Wild (1982)

"I think Accept were a wildly underrated metal band. Too far ahead of their time. Fast As A Shark is one of the great metal songs of all time.

"Too weird maybe for America, but Europe was never afraid of Accept."

Slayer - God Hates Us All (2001)

"This is my it-doesn't-get-any-heavier-than-this record. I thought Slayer could never top Reign In Blood.

Rainbow - On Stage (1977)

"I love this album because this is what happens when you take a great band, a great set of live songs and just go for it.

"Celestial and grand, and it has a heaviness that is more whimsical than the Deep Purple blues. Check out the live concert from Germany in 1978 if you can (it's been released on CD). Even better than this show."

Pantera - Far Beyond Driven (1994)

"I had the privilege of seeing Pantera three times on this tour, and once stood like a geeky fan backstage and declared, 'Boys, you are now the greatest metal band in the world!'